Periscope Cellars

So today I went out to lunch with my ex-Rosenblum buddy Kevin Wiens. After being denied Vietnamese in Oakland (this place was only open Thursday-Tuesday), we went next door to a breakfast place which unfortunately turned out to be sub-par. While I was in the East Bay, I decided I wanted to do a tasting of some sort. I was debating finally visiting St. George Spirits/Hangar One Vodka located on the old Alameda Navy Base. I've been there with Kev to borrow DI (deionized) water for the lab, and another time to talk with the distiller prior to my Diageo interview, but I've never been there to utilize their vodka tasting room. Ultimately, I decided to wait for a time that Marc would be able to join me. After lunch, I hopped up to Emeryville to sample the offerings of Periscope Cellars.

First let me digress a moment. I do want to go into detail about how I arrive in the very exciting world of wine and all of my adventures up until this point. However, I decided that I was going to start this blog today, and I need to get my first blog-worthy thoughts down before they escape me. So look for both current and flashback posts. I also promise to attempt to be more concise, I first need to find my wine blog "voice."

So I've been meaning to get up to Periscope Cellars for a few months now. Like Rosenblum, it is an urban winery which is a concept I like a lot. The only real requirement for winemaking (other than grapes, duh), is space and a water source. Well, even wineries up in Napa and Sonoma wind up having to transport grapes, so why not transport them to San Francisco, Alameda, or Emeryville? Periscope Cellars occupies part of a building that was once a WWII submarine repair facility, hence their name. Very cool. I was their only visitor on this particular Wednesday afternoon, so I had a chance to talk with Nichole Ise who also was so kind as to show me around. While significantly smaller than Rosenblum, the urban winery vibe was similar, only Periscope has a small space that they use as an art gallery. The next show opening is July 10, and I definitely want to try and make it up. They also do "Sip and Stretch" on the third Thursday of each month. That's right. Yoga and wine. Be still, my heart!

So after walking around their little operation, I started out tasting another wine from a different winery that also pours at Periscope. A really nice guy named David led me through some wines from Eden Canyon Vineyards. They only make a handful of wines, and after tasting their 2006 "Estate" Cabernet Sauvignon ($34) and their 2007 "Creston" Zinfandel ($24), I decided to take a bottle of the Zin. It was far from the big, bold Rosenblum Zinfandels and was actually very sweet despite it being a dry wine.


I then moved on to Periscope's wines. Nichole was a great hostess and her business card says it all: Supreme Tasting Room Overlord, Interstellar Director of Marketing, Royal Mistress of Events & Omnific Art Gallery Curator. That is a busy woman! So I started out with the most adorable Rose. I say adorable because it's packaged in a 187 ml bottle, closed with a crimped bottle top like beer, is only $5, and comes with a pink plastic straw! I know very little about Rose, but I could not say no to this one.

I also tasted the Pinot Noir ($24), Zinfandel ($20), and Syrah ($20) (all 2006 vintages) and left with the Syrah in addition to the Rose.


All and all, I was extremely pleased with my Periscope experience, and urban wineries in general. There's nothing snobby about these wines, so don't feel intimidated. No need to politely nod your head when the sommelier suggests flavor notes of cardamom and marigold. Not that kind of place. Did I mention the tasting was free?